Schelter Wins Award for Creative Work in Inorganic Chemistry

Associate Professor of Chemistry Eric Schelter has been awarded the 2016 Harry Gray Award for Creative Work in Inorganic Chemistry by a Young Investigator by the American Chemical Society (ACS). The award was created to recognize creative and influential research in a forefront area of inorganic chemistry.

Schelter works with rare earth elements, required in the manufacture of wind turbine generators, hybrid and electric vehicles, fiber optics, cell phones, and flat-panel displays. Mining and purifying these metals is an expensive, labor-intensive, and ecologically devastating process. Schelter’s goal is to develop efficient, environmentally friendly separations processes for certain high-value rare earth metals based on their unique physical and chemical properties. This year he and his colleagues announced they had discovered a simple method for separating the two rare-earth metals that are commonly found in things like wind turbine generators and power tool motors. This will enable the metals to be recycled into new products.

Schelter received the Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement (RCSA) in 2013, and a U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Research Program Award in 2011. He is an editorial advisory board member for Inorganic Chemistry and the chair-elect of the ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry, Coordination Chemistry Subdivision.

The world’s largest scientific society, ACS represents professionals at all degree levels and in all fields of chemistry and sciences that involve chemistry. Schelter will be honored at the ACS National Meeting in San Diego next March.